As previously reported, Axiom analyst Gordon L. Johnson II upgraded several stocks in the solar sector, including raising his ratings on Yingli Green Energy (YGE) to Buy from Sell, Trina Solar (TSL) to Buy from Sell, JA Solar (JASO) to Buy from Sell and SolarCity (SCTY) to Hold from Sell. The firm has also upgraded its solar sector rating to Market Overweight from Market Underweight, as they believe China's proposed Jul. 1, 2017 tariff cut will usher in about 25GW of 1H17 Chinese "pull-in" demand and that a possible election win by Hillary Clinton would serve as sentiment tailwind pushing clean energy funds to "refocus" on solar stocks.

10/06/16

10/06/16UPGRADE

On The Fly: Top five analyst upgrades

Catch up on today's top five analyst upgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. AutoNation (AN) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman with analyst David Tamberrino saying valuation has bottomed and could be flat to slightly up in the near-term as SAAR bounces around the low-to-mid 17M range. 2. Trina Solar (TSL), Yingli Green Energy (YGE), and JA Solar (JASO) were upgraded to Buy from Sell at Axiom while the firm upgraded SolarCity (SCTY) to Hold from Sell. 3. PNC Financial (PNC) upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Raymond James with analyst David Long saying negative earnings revisions over the past two years have likely hit an inflection point. 4. Big 5 Sporting (BGFV) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank with analyst Mike Baker citing accelerating sales trends and higher earnings power from profitability improvements. 5. Booz Allen (BAH) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James with analyst Brian Gesuale saying the recent selloff creates an attractive entry point. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

With Tesla (TSLA) setting the shareholder vote on November 17 for the SolarCity (SCTY) acquisition and detailing board activity at both companies in its latest filing, Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch believes the likelihood of the deal closing has increased. The analyst expects investors to begin to refocus on the evolution of product offerings along with capital plans and margin performance, and sees a significantly scaled-back SolarCity given staff cuts and voluntary departures. Oppenheimer has a Perform rating on Tesla's shares.

TSLATesla

$199.10

5.14 (2.65%)

10/06/16

GSCO

10/06/16DOWNGRADEGSCONeutral

Tesla downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman

Goldman analyst David Tamberrino downgraded Tesla to Neutral and lowered his price target to $185 from $240. Tamberrino sees incremental risk to Tesla's business related to management's willingness to deploy capital for M&A, and he believes that any delay in the company's new Model 3 launch will be detrimental to shares. The analyst said there is room for downward estimate revisions as volume ramps slower and spending grows. Tamberrino's 2016 earnigns estimate of (59c) is above the Street's (93c), but estimates for 2017 through 2019 are on average 48% below consensus.

10/06/16

GSCO

10/06/16NO CHANGEGSCO

Autos and Autos Parts sector downgraded to Cautious from Neutral at Goldman

Goldman analyst David Tamberrino downgraded the Autos and Auto Parts sector to Cautious from Neutral saying the US Auto cycle peaked in 2015 and is being held up by increasing OEM incentives. The analyst said OEM earnings will decline in 2017/2018 as negative pricing and lower production pressure North American results, but expects suppliers' earnings to hold up longer. The analyst sees upside to Delphi (DLPH) and Harman (HAR) given exposure to secular growth areas and upside to Goodyear Tire (GT) given secular HVA tire growth. Tamberrino downgraded Lear (LEA) to Sell citing elevated expectations and valuation, cut BorgWarner (BWA) to Neutral on valuation, downgraded Tesla (TSLA) to Neutral on execution risk and capital deployment, and upgraded AutoNation (AN) to Neutral given a more defensive business.

10/06/16

10/06/16DOWNGRADE

On The Fly: Top five analyst downgrades

Catch up on today's top five analyst downgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Tesla (TSLA) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman with analyst David Tamberrino saying he sees incremental risk to Tesla's business related to management's willingness to deploy capital for M&A, and he believes that any delay in the company's new Model 3 launch will be detrimental to shares. 2. JPMorgan (JPM) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Sandler O'Neill with analyst Jeffery Harte citing relative share outperformance. 3. Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc with analyst Jessica Schmidt saying the elevated promotions add to other headwinds, including the fact that the teen space is "overstored" and faces soft consumer demand and weak tourism. 4. American Express (AXP) downgraded to Reduce from Neutral at Nomura with analyst Bill Carcache saying the combination of weaker than expected revenues and higher than expected expenses will weigh on the shares. 5. Lowe's (LOW) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Cleveland Research. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

UP AFTER EARNINGS: Cintas (CTAS), up 2.9%... Micron (MU), up 2.8%. ALSO HIGHER: Editas Medicine (EDIT), up 3.1% after it received the EMA's orphan medicinal product designation for EDIT-101... Twitter (TWTR), up 1.8% after it said it will start testing longer, 280-character tweets with a small group. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Nike (NKE), down 3.2%. ALSO LOWER: Kornit Digital (KRNT), down 12.2% after it cut its third quarter revenue guidance... Westlake Chemical Partners (WLKP), down 8.3% after it filed to sell 4.5M units for limited partners... Intra-Cellular (ITCI), down 7.2% after it filed to sell $150M in common stock... Ascendis Pharma (ASND), down 4.3% after it announced an offering of $125M of ADSs.